Falling Leaves 19 ??

  Nothing but darkness surrounds the area, as if an endless void took over everything, nothing in sight, no sound, nothing exists but darkness.

  Danya sits with her legs crossed in the middle of it, her hair flowing as if it's being blown by the wind, her cloak is back intact, as her eyes are closed.

  She lets out a sigh. "This is just great—- who knows how long I've been trapped here—-"

  "Am I dead or something? Is this the afterlife for Death Spirits?"

  She chuckles to herself. "I thought we were erased when we died, I didn't know there was a beyond for us too."

  She then opens her eyes as the only source of light comes from her body shining.

  "So what now? Do I wait for some Reaper to reap me? Is this what mortals feel like when I'm not there on time?"

  She taps her arm. "Well I ain't going to just sit here for eternity and do nothing!"

  "I'm just floating here—-"

  "With no one—-"

  "Alone—-"

  She scrambles her hair. "AUGH! This sucks!"

  "Danya—-" a voice of a little girl whispers.

  Danya's body jolts, as a chilling feeling radiates through her. "Wait huh? Who's there?"

  She looks around and sees nothing. "Odd—-"

  "Danya is that you?" The voice reappears.

  She stands up, looking around once more. "Show yourself, don't play these games with me."

  "Sister—- it is, it really is you!" The voice calls out as tiny footsteps can be heard running towards Danya.

  "Sister? Wait—- this can't be—-" Danya's body freezes.

  A silhouette of a young girl stands before her. "It's—- it's really you—-" Danya mutters.

  Light shines on the girl revealing hair with jet black hair, wearing a white kimono with flower patterns adorned on it.

  "Aiko—-" she whispers as a tear runs down her cheek.

  Aiko smiles at her. "It's been a while, sister, hasn't it?"

  "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't get to visit you in Heaven! I was caught up in something important."

  "I'm so glad I'm able to see you again!" Danya rambles as tears continue to stream down her face.

  "It's alright, I didn't expect you to come see me anyways. You never did show up when the time needed." Aiko's voice is eerily cheerful.

  Danya shakes her head. "No, it's not like that! I promise it wasn't supposed to be like last time when—-"

  "When you let me die?"

  Danya's eyes widen as her pupils shake. "Aiko—- please—- I didn't know—-"

  "I called for you, I called for you, I used the gem you gave me to call for you—- and you didn't come."

  "I WAS FORCED BACK TO MY DUTIES I COULDN'T JUST COME SAVE YOU!" Danya snaps, her body shakes.

  Aiko smiles. "Then why promise me? Why promise you'll be there no matter what realm you were in?"

  "You called me lovely, me and my family took you in, yet you let us all die."

  Danya closes her eyes. "Please—- just get away from me!"

  Tears continue to fall. "I didn't mean it—- please—-"

  Aiko's voice starts to multiply. "It was you who let me die, it was you when turned the village to stone, it was you killed everyone."

  "It was our fault for taking in a Shinigami. Danger like you don't deserve the love and care of family."

  "STOP IT!" Danya holds her head, curling into a ball.

  "Look at me sister, why look away from me? I thought you loved me?" Aiko continues to grin.

  "I do, I do! And that's exactly what got you killed!"

  Danya opens her eyes and turns to Aiko.

  She gasps, as she sees the state she's in.

  Aiko's face melted off, her eyes bulging out hanging, her skull showing, as blood leaks out.

  "Remember this form? The state you found me in? Do you remember?"

  "STOP! STOP PLEASE!"

  "Look at it—- look at what your false promise caused."

  Danya lets out a soul-wrenching scream, as she continues to weep.

  Back in the Cursed Backwoods Ari and Peter continue to fight off the branches and vines.

  Peter slashes at them with his sword, as Ari cuts them with her tail.

  "Hey! So any ideas here?!" Peter blocks the vines from wrapping around him.

  "The Reaper was just thrown in the air, so that's one guy down!"

  Ari turns to Danya still in the bubble as most of the vines and branches aim for her.

  "They're after her! The biome itself is attacking us to get to her."

  Peter slashing grits his teeth. "What the hell did she do to make entire biome mad?!"

  "How is that even possible?!"

  "DEATH SPIRIT!!" The voice yells out again as the vines and branches grow sharper.

  Peter puts his sword in front of her blocking them from impaling him.

  As Ari crouches and jumps dodging them, as she's in the air she swings her tail downwards cutting the vines in half.

  "My bubble can't sustain much more—- I have to figure out more about that death spirit and why the biome hates her."

  "I can't let it take her." Ari thinks to herself.

  She then looks up at the interconnected paths in the sky in front of the monument.

  "That's my only choice here—-"

  Ari turns back to Peter. "Whatever you do when I give a signal grab onto me as fast as you can! Got it?"

  Peter nods. "Fine! Whatever gets us out of here!"

  Ari aims both her palms towards one of the paths. "Baburu Kōsen!" (Bubble Beam!)

  The existing bubbles she summons against Akuji then shoot up to the paths, she then throws a bubble on Peter and another one at Danya's bubble.

  "NOW!" The bubbles pop, freeing Danya making her appear in front of Ari, Peter appears instantly in front of her too, placing his hand on her shoulder.

  Ari quickly grabs Danya, as the vines and branches give chase to her, growing sharper.

  The bubbles at the path pop, as all three of them are transported in the air, she continues to fire more bubbles making a chain of them making them pop transporting them further.

  They make it to the highest path, as Ari drops Danya and Peter on the moss covering it.

  "We don't have much time before the vines reach us up here—-"

  "I need to figure out what direction would be the best to find the village."

  Ari closes her eyes as her body relaxes, a blue aura radiates through her body. "Focus on the aura, then pinpoint similar energy."

  She takes a deep breath, as the sounds of the vines erupting in the air catch her attention.

  "Focus—- focus—-"

  Peter looks down the edge of the path. "Uh! Hey, they're coming up here pretty fast you know?!"

  Something snaps in Ari's head. "EAST!"

  She grabs Danya once more.

  "Grab my shoulder again!" She commands Peter.

  He quickly follows it, as she summons a bubble of condensed water and fires it quickly.

  "Come on—- come on—-" she whispers to herself. "Stay in a good mood Ari—- Stay in a good mood don't panic—- yet." She thinks to herself taking deep breaths.

  The vines start to impale the path making their way to the three.

  "AUGH, AH NO!" Peter screams.

  "Now!" Ari yells out, as the three of them disappear.

  The vines rip apart the path in their wake.

  Instantly they appear in a grove of trees, ones taller than regular Soul Trees.

  Ari drops to one knee panting, as Peter and Danya lay on the ground.

  "Fox, you alright?" Peter stands up rushing to Ari's side.

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  Ari swipes his hand away. "I'm fine—- and don't call me Fox, the name's Ari."

  "Oh, my apologies Ari, well I'll tell you my name again too, it's Peter pleased to officially meet you."

  He sticks out his hand for a shake. Ari looks up at him confused. "What are you doing?"

  "Oh uh—- just trying to shake your hand that's all."

  Ari squints her eyes. "Shake my hand? What for? Why would you want to rattle my hand?"

  "Huh? No not rattle your hand, I mean like shake it, as a form of greeting."

  Ari stands rubbing both sides of her temple spitting out blood. "I don't know what you're going on about but we have more important matters to focus on."

  Peter retracts his hand. "Uh..right my bad."

  He looks ahead at the new location. "Jesus—- this place is creepier than the last."

  The giant trees covering the area as only tiny slivers of light pour through, tiny wisps following along lighting the path, the faces on the trees are more monstrous as the bark is grey, green fog covers the forest.

  "How are we supposed to make it out of here!"

  Ari rubs her head. "Please I'm trying to think, stay quiet for a moment."

  The trees start to groan as Peter feels something watching them.

  He turns to one of the trees as its eyes are directly on them. "AH! SHIT!" He falls over.

  Ari looks down at him. "Listen Peter was it? If you're just going to be a liability I'm just going to leave you here."

  "Anything but that! Don't do that to me, I'll calm down or at least try to."

  "And I wouldn't recommend staying in a negative mood for long, this place feeds on negativity."

  Peter tilts his head. "What do you mean by that?"

  Ari makes eye contact with him. "This biome, to put it short, the more negativity you have the weaker you are, the more positivity the stronger."

  Peter crosses his arms. "So you're telling me, if you feel a negative emotion you're just going to be weak."

  "Exactly, and that's why I'm trying my best to keep my composure."

  "So what happens if you experience a negative emotion? I've been negative this entire time and I've been fine for the most part."

  Ari picks up Danya. "Well, I guess since you don't have any magic abilities it doesn't affect you much, if I were to feel negative emotions I'd lose my magic and be just like you."

  "Frail and powerless, like that reaper I fought."

  A sharp pain then hits Ari in the head as she hisses grabbing it.

  "Hey you good?!" Peter stops himself from reaching out.

  "I'm—- I'm okay—- it's damage from that battle with the Reaper, he was magicless, but his blows may have cracked my skull a bit."

  Whispers can be heard from around the trees, on top and behind.

  Peter starts to shake. "Okay, Okay so let's get moving already alright—-"

  Ari nods. "Right—-" She hands Danya to Peter.

  "You can carry her from here on—- I need to recover a bit."

  "Fine—-" He adjusts her on his back.

  They begin to venture deep into the forest, the whispers grow louder as the trees continue to watch them.

  Peter tries to ignore them, as Ari remains focused.

  "So uh, where are we going exactly?"

  Ari still focused on the path. "To my village and getting through here and the only way to get there from where we were at."

  "Right—- another question is, how did you find yourself in this situation—- I know I appeared out of nowhere for you. But I caught you fighting that Reaper guy."

  Ari takes a deep breath. "Well, it's simple I was stopping him from fighting a local at first. Then it just escalated—- I had to kill the local, then out of curiosity fought him."

  "Kill the local? Why would you do that?"

  She shrugs. "I gave them an ultimatum to stop, they were just causing more negativity making this place worse than it needs to be."

  "And the local refused so I did what I had to do."

  Peter furrows his eyebrows. "So you had to kill him? Did he have his magic activated as well?"

  Ari places her fingers on her chin. "Good question—- I don't believe so, I believe he was a body morphing spirit, he had natural body transformation."

  Footsteps can be heard running up to the two, both of them turn around instantly.

  Nothing is there. "Just a mind trick—- Peter another thing this biome loves to play with your fear don't let it."

  Peter shaking. "Good to know—-"

  They continue to walk as the footsteps return. "Just ignore it!" Ari sounds like she's trying to convince herself and Peter at the same time.

  Peter shakes more, holding Danya tighter. "R-right—- it's a mind game."

  Instantly something appears in front of them from the sky. "AHGH!" They both scream stumbling back.

  A blue lemur spirit with a long tail hangs in front of them. "Bonjour." (Hello) It's voice is slow, its face is flat, its eyes are pure white with black swirls surrounding it, its body is square.

  Peter stares into its eyes as he starts to panic. "Those eyes, they look like—-" A flashback of Azazel then appears in his head, the towering beast of a Reaper with his pure white eyes turning down at Peter.

  "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" He draws his sword.

  "Peter calm down! What did I say about keeping composure!" Ari grabs his shoulder.

  The lemur snickers. "Mon ami (my friend), no need for such violence. I'm just welcoming you to 'Forêt sans ame.' (Soulless Forest)

  "I don't need your welcome you French speaking abomination!"

  "You sure are the negative one aren't you? Where is your love Mon Ami? Have you not been salvaged by Malika yet?"

  Peter grits his teeth. "I don't know who this Malika is and personally I don't care for her! Just get out of my sight!"

  The Lemur starts to repeat a saying. "Thou shall spread the joy of love to the cursed, as they shall join Malika in eternal peace."

  "Straight from Livre de révérence. Mon Ami." (Book of Reverence. My friend.)

  Ari looks at the Lemur dead in the eyes. "Sorry, but we don't follow the rules of Malika. So do you mind going away."

  "Heheheh, Oookay!" The Lemur lets out a giggle.

  "Make yourselves at home then." It pulls itself back into the top of the tree as leaves fall in front of the two.

  Peter stands there shaking, Ari pats him on the back. "Come on, standing here won't get us anywhere."

  Peter nods. "Yeah—- you're right."

  They continue to walk through the fog, the feeling of being surveilled doesn't leave them for a second.

  Childlike giggling echoes through the forest, as the footsteps return. Peter puffs his chest out as he clenches his fist. "It's not real Pete, It's not real Pete." He tells himself.

  "Run—-" Ari whispers.

  "What do you mean run? You told me not to let it scare me!"

  "Run damn it!" Ari goes to full speed.

  "WAIT!" Peter screams frantically.

  Ari stretches her tail as she wraps it around Peter and Danya pulling them with her.

  As she continues to run a few minutes pass, as she stumbles upon a hill. "Is that—-."

  A tree with a door on it sits on top of it. "Shelter?! Yes!"

  Her tail retracts throwing Peter and Danya on the ground.

  Peter rolls on the ground as the sound of metal clanging echoes from his armor.

  "You could have gave us a soft landing you know?!"

  Ari points up at the tree. "Up there, we can take cover for the night there, rest up a bit."

  "Plus we can easier attack anything trying to come at us. We just need to stick together."

  Peter stands up quickly and runs to Danya picking her up. "Yep, makes sense don't have to tell me twice!"

  Both of them run up the hill, reaching the door, Peter reaches for it as Ari stops him.

  "Wait—-" She summons a bubble.

  "What are you doing?" Peter whispers back.

  "Making sure it's empty, anything this bubble touches will be knocked back." Ari explains as she squeezes the bubble under the crack of the door.

  Peter starts to shake uncontrollably, the feeling of being watched still haunts him.

  "Aku—-ji—-" a soft voice mutters.

  Peter looks at Danya. "Was that her? Is she awake?"

  He starts to shake her a bit. "Hey—- Hey Reaper girl—-"

  "SH!" Ari hisses.

  "Don't call her by anything! Just say girl, the last time the other Reaper said something the biome reacted terribly."

  Peter covers his mouth. "Mhm—-"

  Danya makes a sound again. "Umph.." A small groaning one as she starts to breathe softly.

  Good at least she's alive. Peter thinks to himself.

  "The coast is clear, the bubble didn't pop." Ari opens the door.

  Peter follows her inside, as they both look at the decor, a bunch of paintings surround the walls.

  One of a humanoid red spirit with its face being stretched.

  Another one a jagged teeth beast,

  And one of a child holding the hand of a shadowy figure.

  The giggling from outside grows closer, as Peter slams the door.

  "Never in my life or afterlife would I have thought I'd be experiencing this!"

  Ari inspects the paintings and the craftsmanship behind them.

  Peter moves furniture in front of the door blocking anything from breaking inside.

  He places Danya on a nearby chair as he sits down, catching his breath.

  "If I had a heart it would be practically out of my chest right now."

  Ari turns to him. "Peter I've been meaning to ask you. Now that we have the time."

  "What are you?"

  Peter tilts his head. "What am I, what do you mean?"

  Ari sits on the wooden floor, as creaks can be heard from the entire room.

  "I mean you clearly aren't a Spirit that much is certain? I heard the other Reaper call you a mortal?"

  "Oh right—- yeah, I'm not some special kind of spirit like you guys."

  "I'm a human being through and through."

  Ari hums. "But how? How are you human in this realm? Shouldn't you be in the mortal realm? I've read about your kind before. The reapers reap you when you guys perish correct?"

  Peter sits back placing his head on the wall. "Well, yes that is what happened to me, but it's not the simple reaping you're thinking of."

  Ari leans closer. "Well, we have time explain it please how are you here?"

  He sighs. "I'm not really comfortable talking about this but why not."

  "I lost count of the years since I died, but back in my time there was war in my world, called World War 2."

  Ari's eyes sparkle. "A war with the entire world? Insane, how is that even possible?!"

  Peter chuckles. "It's what us humans do heh.. but to continue I was a part of something called the Soviet Union."

  "I believe the year was 1944 in my world, I was deployed to a battle in a place called Crimea. And that's when unfortunately I lost my life, being shot in the head."

  Ari interrupts. "Shot? By a bow and arrow? Ouch—-"

  "No, by a rifle we didn't use bow and arrows in the war."

  Ari blinks. "What's a rifle? Is that some kind of weapon?"

  Peter sighs. "Yeah, but we won't get into that right now—-"

  "Let's just keep it short, I died, I woke up in a black void, I met the worst creature of my existence."

  Peter shutters at the thought of his name.

  "Azazel—-"

  "Oh yeah I heard of him before a few times, the other Reaper mentioned him during our battle. What's he to you other than your reaper?" Ari asks.

  "He—- he's a demon—- a monster."

  "When I was reaped—- he promised me a better fate than I was originally dealt—- a promise that was better than hell.."

  Peter continues to shake as he clenches his fist. "I agreed—- I agreed to his damned deal—-"

  His armor starts to rattle from his body's vibrations, the creaks in the room grow louder.

  Ari focuses her gaze on Peter. "Please continue, I need to know."

  Peter grits his teeth. "I—-"

  "He gave me the choice of going to hell or joining him to this world—- and obviously I chose this world, without knowing the cost of it—-"

  "He enslaved me—- tortured me—- stripped me down of everything for his pleasure—- I was dealt a choice between two hells.."

  "And unknowingly I chose the worst one."

  Ari stands up. "That's disgusting! No one should have to go through that, especially not someone who was already meant for hell."

  "You were already supposed to go somewhere terrible yet he just gave you an afterlife on the same level of it?"

  "How is that any better of a deal?" Claws form from her nails as anger boils inside her.

  Peter looks down as he tries to stop shaking. "I know—- honestly the only reason I'm helping this reaper girl right here is so she can give me information about Azazel."

  "How to stop him, weaknesses, just anything that'll help me unlink my soul from him."

  Ari nods as she crosses her arms. "That's smart, that guy seriously has something wrong with him, that's complete abuse of power."

  The sharp pains then hit Ari again, as she drops to the ground on her knees.

  "GWARH."

  "Ari!" Peter rushes towards her assisting her to a nearby chair.

  "Let's just rest here for a little bit longer until your head is healed a bit more."

  "Y-eah—- good call—-" Ari mutters as she buries her head in her lap.

  TO BE CONTINUED